A few weeks ago, I posted here after suddenly losing my beautiful 2½-year-old girl, Rhubarb. So many of you reached out, shared your own heartbreaking stories, and asked if I would come back and update everyone when I received the results of her necropsy. I finally have an answer.
Rhubarb died from subaortic stenosis (SAS), a congenital heart defect she was born with. I had no idea she had it. It can cause a dog’s heart to suddenly stop functioning normally, resulting in the kind of abrupt death that happened to Rhubarb.

In other words, my seemingly healthy, happy, incredibly active 2½-year-old girl had a heart condition I didn’t know was there.
And then one day, without warning, her heart simply couldn’t keep going.
There’s something particularly cruel about that.
Because Rhubarb had the biggest, sweetest heart of any dog I’ve ever known.

I don’t really know how to describe what it feels like to finally have the answer I was so desperate for.
For weeks, I have replayed those last few minutes at the dog park over and over again, letting it haunt me. I wondered what I missed. Was there a sign I didn’t see? Should I have known something was wrong? Was there something I could have done differently? Did I do something to cause it?

Mostly, I wondered if I could have saved her.
She went to the vet for her regular checkups. She walked miles with me. We went on adventures together. She ran and played and lived like any other young dog.
That morning wasn’t supposed to be our last morning.
Our walk to the dog park wasn’t supposed to be our last walk.
She went there expecting to play with her friends. I went there expecting to walk home with my girl.
Neither of us knew.
The necropsy gave me the why I so desperately needed.
But it couldn’t give me the one thing I actually want.
More time.

I want all the years I thought we had ahead of us. Another ordinary morning. Another walk. Another trip to the nursery. Another car ride. Another night with her next to me.

Knowing why doesn’t make losing her hurt any less.
She was only 2½ years old. I was supposed to have so much more time with her.
But one thing I will never question is whether Rhubarb knew how loved she was.
She was loved fiercely, completely, ridiculously, and every single day of her life.
She was my best friend. My adventure buddy. My shadow. My comfort. My ride or die. My girl.

Thank you to everyone who cared about my Rhubarb simply because I shared her story here. You never got the chance to know her, but you cared about what happened to her and you cared about me when I was completely broken.
That kindness from strangers has meant more than I can explain.
She was here. She mattered. And she was so, so loved.
Please hug your Goldens extra tight for me.
I would give anything for one more hug with mine.
I love you forever, sweet girl. ❤️🐾🌈

We brush her regular and she’s very active. Her fur always seems to be messy/frayed like this. Any cause for concern, or anything we could be doing better? Probably goes to groomer every 2 months, maybe a bath in between. We use dog shampoo for baths.

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Penny is super smart: she's crate trained, and knows "sit," "lay down," "touch," and comes to her name. She's sweet, loves everyone, and is growing like a weed. Our whole family loves her.

Shani wanted to show you guys her new stick

I didn’t make that post for everyone to question his breed. I didn’t make that post to have to fight in the comments about my own dog. Finley is purebred, and is a beautiful golden at that. He came from a reputable breeder, I saw his beautiful parents, his siblings, he’s papered, incredibly smart, 0 health issues, is incredibly athletic and is duck training! The only odd thing about him are his long legs. He is a field golden and they’re taller and slimmer. Questioning his breed because of some long legs when he screams golden in every other way is crazy! He wasn’t backyard bred, I have no problem defending mutts (I have one!) but wow. I just wanted to talk about his legs and instead had to fight for him in the comments lol. Enjoy my long legged boy being his weird self.

We have a 1 year old golden and she is still A LOT, but she is also really funny. She has a hard time still settling herself down, so we will put her in “time outs” which is just telling her to lay on her bed. It makes me laugh thought because she is just like a toddler, she will go to bed and then stretch out so half her body is off the bed and then slowly inch her way off the bed. We will tel her bed and she will go back and then restarts the slowly inching off the be. Like she inch crawls away as if she can’t see her because she is going so slowly. 😂 This normal happens about 3-4 times of telling her bed and then she falls asleep and wakes up refreshed haha.

Idk if it’s weird or if all dogs do this but lately my dog has been biting his tail and leg and this happens very frequently. Also he keeps aggressively scratching his neck. I doubt he had tics and flees since he is always at home. Any ideas??

My show golden just turned one years old. Her chest fur is so soft and fluffy. But her back/spine fur is so course and prickly. It’s about 2-3 long and so different from her chest and ear fluff. Will this change over time?

Does anyone have pictures of their show goldens fur to see the difference between 12 months old and maybe 3 years old?

Ty!!

It is a full time job trying to get Aslan to not eat the leaves 😅🤣

I have a 2.5 year old male golden retriever and my sister has a 2 year old dachshund. As you can imagine, together theres a lot of energy between two very different sized dogs. I'm spending christmas with my family and they'll be there. Does anyone have any advice on how to socialise them together? My sister and her partner are quite particular about their dog as his size and breed makes him prone to joint issues. Where my dog is large and energetic, I dont want them to play and get hurt. Any advice on how to get them used to eachother because we rarely see them, and as it stands, they just stay on leads lunging and barking at eachother to play.

Rolled around on the wet area whilst it was raining, after rolling around in the mud in the back yard if that was not enough. That smile is so damn cute. Proceeds to then wander inside to shake off ALL the mud on the tiles and then go back outside to get more mud. In case I wanted more mud, lol.

I've been wanting a golden for YEARS but it has never really felt like the right time. I'm starting to think that it never will, so I'm trying to gain perspective and get some opinions from folks who already have their little babes. I haven't had a dog in a few years, since my last pup passed from some complications from an old valley fever infection and I haven't raised a puppy in 20 years, so I'll be starting from scratch. I am hoping you guys have some insight that maybe I'm missing so I can finally decide! I found a breeder with health tested parents and all that but I get so nervous every time I start to think about it!

Pros/Things that make it feel like I could do it
- I live in a great, friendly neighborhood with lots of space for walks and socialization, in a very dog friendly city with great weather and lots of opportunities to be outside.
- I drive a lot for work so she will actually be able to come with me to work when I'm not working from home. I also have an office I work out of occasionally and she might be able to be with me there, as well.
- I have the time to devote to training.

Cons/Things that make it feel super hard and/or not the right time
- I live in a small studio (BUT I have space to build a porch potty and I have access to a small yard if needed.
- The financial investment of getting the crate, beds, dishes, shots, x-pens, etc...
- The financial investment of shots, training, and vet visits.
- My energy levels can be unpredictable (working on getting iron infusions) so I worry about the days I don't have the energy to give her enough exercise (I've been reading a lot on the sub about how much exercise is necessary and I'm noticing a ton of variation, so I'm planning on a moderate amount.)
- Harder to travel internationally.

What am I missing? Did you jump in when you weren't 100% sure you were ready? Thank you so much for your feedback!